


Living After Midnight

by IreneADonovan



Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Canon Disabled Character, Charles Xavier in a Wheelchair, M/M, star-crossed lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-12
Updated: 2019-04-12
Packaged: 2020-01-12 05:28:00
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18439982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IreneADonovan/pseuds/IreneADonovan
Summary: Charles, Lord Xavier, has fallen in love with the Fae Prince, Erik of Lehnsherr, but they can be together only between midnight and dawn...





	Living After Midnight

**_The iron tongue of midnight hath told twelve; lovers to bed; ‘tis almost fairy time._ \-- William Shakespeare**

**_Living after midnight, rocking to the dawn, lovin’ ‘til the morning, then I'm gone, I'm gone._ \-- Judas Priest**  


Charles gripped his bedcovers tightly, gazed at the wan moonlight beyond the window, bit his lip. Surely it must be near midnight by now.

No, he needn't worry. Erik would not be late. Erik was never late. He knew they had not a moment to waste, only from midnight to the first light of dawn. Longer now, near midwinter, than at any other time, but still never enough.

A soft rippling of the curtains, and Erik stood before him, the faint light shimmering on his fair skin and sparking ghostly highlights in his auburn hair. Erik of Lehnsherr, the Fae prince.

He crossed to where Charles lay and sat beside him, careful not to impinge on Charles’ useless legs, knowing how fragile they were. He brushed a lock of hair from Charles’ forehead, bent and kissed hm tenderly on the lips. “Are you ready?”

“Always.”

Erik rose, lifted Charles from the bed, and then, in an eyeblink, they were gone.

They re-appeared in Erik's kingdom, on the lawns behind the castle, both now clad in the velvety robes of the fae. The air was warm as always in this land of eternal summer.

Charles held tight to Erik's neck as Erik lowered his feet to the grass. Sharp pin-and-needle stabs set his nerves afire, rippling from chest to hips to toes and back again. No matter how many times he'd experienced this transformation, it remained painful in those first minutes.

Erik supported him as his lower body gained strength, the faerie magick restoring function, at least for the next few hours, as long as he remained in this realm.

The pain eased, and Charles released his grip, standing on still-shaky legs.

”Are you all right?” Erik's multi-hued eyes shone with concern.

“You know it always hurts at first.”

“It would not if you remained here.”

And that was one point of the crux of the matter between them. Erik wished him to stay, for as long as they might have before his king and queen intervened, but Charles could not so easily abandon his people, not even for the freedom granted by his restored legs.

Nor could Erik remain with him in the human realm. A fae cut off from the magicks of the faerie realms would not long survive.

And then there was the matter of the fae king and queen. They tolerated Charles’ presence in their Realm during the wee hours, when the veil between the fae and human realms was thinnest, but they would never permit their heir anything more than a dalliance with a human. Even if he were to stay here, he would lose Erik. That the Black King and White Queen had tolerated his presence for nearly a year was more than either of them had expected.

So they treasured every moment between them, knowing each could be the last.

Charles took his first steps, still a little wobbly. Erik placed a steadying hand low on his back. His hand was long-fingered and elegant, his touch gentle but firm.

“How I have missed you,” Charles admitted.

“We were parted but seventeen hours.”

‘And that was seventeen hours too long,” Charles said. “Now dance with me.”

Erik took Charles into his arms, swept him around the lawn, slow at first, allowing Charles to find the rhythm in his legs. It was always exhilarating, feeling them under him and working. For that matter, just feeling them. They had been numb for years before he'd met Erik.

They finished their dance beneath a weeping willow, shielding them from view, leaving them alone for the nonce. Erik held him closer, pressed a kiss to the top of his head. “My bedchamber? Or here, on the grass?”

“Here,” Charles said, already a little breathless.

Erik cupped Charles’ jaw in his hands, tilted his face up, took a gentle taste of his mouth. A thick blanket appeared in the grass under the tree, and Erik lowered him onto it, then lay beside him.

Their robes vanished, and Charles revelled in the sensation of Erik's skin against his own. He twined his legs with Erik's, just because he could, and wrapped his arms around the fae's muscular torso. “God, you feel so good.”

Erik nipped at his neck. “As do you. And you're so damned beautiful.” His hand skimmed down the withered muscles of Charles’ arse and thigh.

“I'm not,” Charles protested, wanting to pull away from the touch. Yes, magick could restore sensation and function, but it did not undo the damage wrought by more than a decade of paralysis. Charles lower body remained thin and frail.

“You are,” Erik insisted. “Your hair, your lips, your eyes, your body. I know you believe the wasting of your legs keeps you from being beautiful, but I think otherwise. And I'm going to prove it to you. Again.”

Erik rose to his knees and straddled Charles’ thighs. Their cocks brushed for the barest instant, and Charles gasped.

Erik grinned, showing a lot of teeth. His thumbs brushed over Charles’ nipples with maddening delicacy as he bent to nuzzle Charles’ throat.

He explored Charles’ body with hands and lips and tongue, teasing, insistent, relentless, until Charles was writhing helplessly beneath him.

Only then did he bring their cocks together again, encircling them in one long-fingered hand, stroking them as one.

The satiny steel of Erik's cock against his own. The firm grip of those talented fingers, coaxing him toward the brink. The lust-hazed eyes gazing down at him, tender and hungry both.

Charles soared, shuddered, fell, and moments later Erik followed him into the abyssal dark.

Erik rolled off him but stayed close, wrapping himself around Charles like a blanket as they both coasted back down to solid ground. They remained like that, talking quietly, just drinking in each other, until near dawn.

“I must get you home,” Erik said, then kissed him, slow and deep.

He helped Charles to his feet, and Charles took a minute to savor the feel of the grass between his toes, knowing all sensation would be gone again in a minute.

“Ready?”

Charles nodded and slipped his arms around Erik's neck.

Erik kissed him and lifted him into his arms.

The fae realm faded away, and Charles was back in his bedroom, still in Erik's arms, his body once again numb and useless from his mid-chest down. He wanted to cry, knowing the night was at an end.

Erik settled him in his bed, drew up the covers, kissed him a final time. “Until tomorrow, love.”

“Until tomorrow.”

Charles watched as Erik stepped toward the window and vanished.

Only then did he cry.


End file.
